Hero? Maybe Kingdom Keeper? Definitely
by OCfanfiction100
Summary: Third Story in Series! (Finn/OC) Azalea and the other Kingdom Keepers are back this time looking for Wayne. Their searching leads them to Epcot where they discover more clues to the location of their kidnapped mentor and more about themselves as individuals and as a team. Rated T because I'm paranoid about being reported. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

The OT's Are Back

Azalea's P.O.V.

I lead our trio through Tom Sawyer's Island, Finn and Maybeck right on my tail. You know, it seems a whole lot safer in the day. I dodged a tree and heard the pirates catching up to us. It had been a few weeks since the incidents at the Animal Kingdom. Wayne was still missing, and we were still trying to find him.

And every time we crossed over, there were always OT's lurking in the general area. We had to find him. He, being the last Imagineer to have known Walt Disney personally, knew quite a lot. The information he knew was absolutely necessary to defeat the OT's. I dodged another tree, Finn and Maybeck having caught up to me by now.

Finn looked backwards to see our pursuers which led to Maybeck yelling at Finn to not give away our position. "We're literally glowing bodies of light running through a dark forest in the middle of the night, do you really think my face is going to give off our position," Finn retorted. I rolled my eyes at my two companions.

They always had to bicker, and I always had to break the two apart before something happened. Finn passed through a tree, like he walked straight through it. It was what we called going all clear. Finn is the best at it of all of us. I had done it briefly before but Finn had much more experience in that field.

"Show-off!" Maybeck huffed, having to scramble over a rock to catch up to Finn and me. Great, here we go again.

"Elitist!" Finn replied.

"Know-it-all!"

"Eye candy!"

"Would you two shut up? If you babies are finished bickering, we have a bigger problem at hand!" I shouted, to shut them up.

"We'll finish this later," Maybeck concluded.

"Agreed," Finn replied. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, any of you geniuses got a plan- ow!" I yelped as I felt a pirate's sword graze my arm. With my other hand, I placed my hand over the cut to try and stop the bleeding. "A plan would be much appreciated now, guys."

"How good are you guys at swimming?" Finn asked, looking backwards to see that the pirates, though not as close as before were still not a comfortable distance away.

"Fine, why?" I questioned as we stopped at the edge of the moat. "You've got to be kidding me." I noticed movement to the left in the water and saw an alligator surface.

"I'll have to pass Whitman, I don't want to be eaten by an alligator." But before Maybeck could finish his statement, Finn dove in. I sighed and dove in after him, catching up to Finn easily, Maybeck on my other side. The alligator charged at us and I pulled both boys lower, to dodge the beast. It seemed to disappear as we swam to the other bank. Maybeck hopped out first and pulled me and Finn up next.

We charged into the teepee, surprising Philby, Willa, and Charlene. "You're late," Philby replied. Philby was the geek of our group. Technology problems? He's your guy. Charlene looked the part for a lead cheerleader but her true character was not the stereotype. She wasn't ditsy or anything but because she always wore a nightgown to bed every night, Willa and I had to quite often knock the boys back into reality. Willa was a simple girl in terms of fashion and was calm and down to earth.

"Sorry, pirates," I replied, clutching my cut at the reminder.

"It seemed like they were waiting for us," Maybeck replied. Finn agreed. The teepees were a form of shadow, a place where the DHI projectors did not quite reach so we were invisible to the eye, but our voices could still be heard and we still left footprints.

"This is the fifth time we've searched here in MK, I don't think Wayne's here," Charlene sighed.

"So what are we supposed to do, give up?" I retorted, wrapping the bandana I had worn around the cut, cutting off the bleeding.

"I don't know, but you have to agree that that was a trap, Azalea. And we walked straight into it. It was a close call, next time we might not get so lucky," Maybeck replied, deadpanned.

"We can search AK-"Finn started.

"We'd be mobbed by fans before we even made it past Rainforest Café and we risk losing the college money," Philby interrupted. I had to agree with that point. My family was not exactly what you would call rich, and I needed the money if I ever wanted to get a degree.

"So we just bail on Wayne? That's not going to happen," Finn stated. But he was shushed by Philby who reported that the pirates and their friend Stitch had arrived. I heard a distinct yelp from Finn and an apology from Philby. I shushed them as the pirates got closer. I held my breath as the pirate stuck his head inside the room. I felt something on my hand and looked to see sand cascading onto my palm, courtesy of Finn.

I grabbed some sand and relayed the message to Willa. I grabbed some more sand and waited. Another pirate stuck his ugly head into the tent and I gulped, my heart pounding in my chest. "NOW!" Finn shouted. I quickly chucked sand into the pirate's eyes. He quickly yelped and we rushed out. Charlene was in the lead, Finn in the back. "Quickly, everyone hold hands and get close!" I grabbed onto Finn's open hand and latched onto Maybeck's forearm. Finn hit the button and we were all sent back to our respective bedrooms.

I awoke with a start, soaking wet. I cursed. I had gotten my bed all wet and how was I supposed to explain this to my dad and grandmother? I quietly changed and collected all my wet stuff. I exited my room and made my way downstairs to the laundry room. I closed the door quietly and placed my stuff into the dryer. I closed the top of the dryer as the light outside the laundry room turned on.

I quietly hid in the closet as my grandmother opened the door. She poked her head into the room and shrugged her shoulders. "I could have sworn I heard someone in here, oh well." After she left I waited for the load to finish and made my way back up to my room.


	2. Chapter 2

The Mysterious Woman

Azalea's P.O.V.

The next morning I walked to school but noticed something was off. There was a woman standing outside the school grounds. She had a limited addition Disney bag with exclusive pins that cost hundreds of dollars. She was a Disney freak, possibly a Kingdom Keeper fan. I had had my fair share of crazy fans, people would come to the bakery and just sit there for hours while I worked in the back.

None of us, the Kingdom Keepers, could really go out into public anymore without running into a fan of some kind. But this lady was freaking me out, because she was looking straight at me. She was wearing sunglasses so I wasn't a hundred percent sure she was looking at me, but I had a hunch. She seemed familiar, but I couldn't just figure it out.

Finn pulled up next to me, riding his bike. He followed my gaze to the lady looking at the both of us, like we had done something wrong. "Let's go, she's probably just a fan," I stated, turning to walk towards school.

"I've seen her before," Finn murmured, locking up his bike.

"She seems familiar, I just don't know where from," I stated, opening up my locker, Finn's right next to mine. I put away my backpack and took out my stuff for first period, math. I said good bye to Finn and made my way to Mr. Huntington's math class. He was a nice guy and everything but I don't think that a teacher was exactly his calling.

I sat next to Amanda. I smiled in greeting and she returned it. The Kingdom Keepers had saved Amanda's sister Jess from the OT's on two occasions. They were Fairlies, humans with special powers. Both sisters were orphans and friends of the Kingdom Keepers. Amanda and I were quite close. They might be moved from their current foster home to another one, one made for Fairlies. I was upset about it but I knew there was nothing that any of us could do about it.

Finn and I met up at lunch, sitting by ourselves. Amanda was doing something elsewhere so it was just us two today. "How's that cut?" Finn asked.

I pulled up my sleeve to reveal the cut that was covered by fifteen small band aids. "I couldn't find any bigger bandages so I had to use the small ones, and lots of them," I replied at his confused glance. He smiled at me until he saw someone coming up from behind me. I turned to look as Greg Luowski walked towards us.

He was easily comparable to a walking soda machine and had the brain of one too. He was disgusting and I always had to deal with him. He swaggered over to our table, Finn giving him a deadpanned look. "What are you doing here, Whitman?" Greg threatened, trying to take a threatening pose and in the process tripping on some trash on the floor. Red faced, he walked away. I sighed.

"He likes you," Finn stated.

"Don't remind me, I'd rather date the trash can than that sorry excuse," I sighed.

"Good point, a trash can probably smells better anyways," Finn joked. I smiled. "So what are we going to do about our friend?"

"What else can we do, we keep searching until we find him. We have absolutely no clues to lead us in any direction except for the fact that the OT's know that we're looking for him." Finn looked behind me again to see Greg sitting with his cult. "Don't let him get to you, he's not worth your time."

"When do you see Amanda?" Finn asked, changing the subject.

"Uh, we have last period together. Why?"

"I was going to see if they could go to EPCOT to look for Wayne with me," Finn said.

"Finn, if you go into the park you might get caught."

"What's worse, getting caught or never finding Wayne again?" I sighed.

"Fine, I would come with you except I have a shift at the bakery again, can't skip it," I replied. Finn nodded as we were dismissed. At last period I talked to Amanda and she agreed that she and Jess would meet up with Finn at EPCOT after school. As I packed my bag, I turned to look at Finn, who had put on a baseball cap with shades. "Just don't get caught, I don't want to have to bail you out."

He smiled at me before promising to be careful and walking off. I sighed and walked to the bakery. I put my back pack away and donned an apron. I got straight to work in the back frosting cupcakes. After I finished two batches my aunt told me to work at the counter for a while. I nodded and made my way to the front. There were only a few customers but there were still a good amount milling about.

Then that lady walked into the store, the one that had been staring at Finn and me at school. I gulped as she started to look at all the pastries lined up behind the display cases. I served the people in front of the mysterious woman but I kept an eye directly on her. When she finally made her way to the counter where I was standing at she ordered a simple which I quickly got. As I handed her the box, my grandmother came out of the back.

She gasped and I turned my attention to my grandmother, who was clutching the wall for support. I quickly made my way over to my grandmother. "What's wrong?" I stated quickly.

"Nothing, I just saw someone I haven't seen in a long time." I turned to look for the woman but she had disappeared, the pastries' worth located on the counter in the form of two crisp dollar bills and a few coins.

"You know her? Who is she?" I replied, cautiously.

"An old friend," she sighed. I would have asked more but I knew it was best to not push my grandmother.


	3. Chapter 3

Wanda

Azalea's P.O.V.

The next day after school Finn, Amanda, and I met up at The Frozen Marble. I had already texted the other Kingdom Keepers to meet up with us, if possible. Philby was the first to arrive, Jess walking into the shop a few seconds later. Finn placed Jess' diary on the table and Philby started to rifle through it. "We can't really stay long, we got grounded," Jess stated, taking a seat next to me.

Maybeck, Charlene, and Willa walked in a few seconds later, each grabbing an ice cream and making their way over to our table. "We eventually got caught and escorted out by security but Jess had a vision before then," Amanda said. She then explained what was in the diary with input from Jess occasionally.

"I has to be Wayne," Willa sighed.

"Well what do we do, then?" Maybeck asked.

"Save him of course," Charlene piped up. Everyone looked at her like she had grown a second head. "What?"

"You were never really Ms. Let's Go Dive into Adventure, now were you?" I retorted.

"No, but I've changed my views." No one questioned her further, instead we turned our attention to Wayne, well the drawing of Wayne.

"Look at his jacket, it's an Epcot Center windbreaker," Finn said. Maybeck stated against it until Finn pulled up an image of the exact jacket. "And look, its horses in the back. It could represent a carousel."

"Well, it's not much, but it gives us a starting point. Let's search Epcot some more."

"But, we can't our passes were pulled," Amanda stated.

"Which brings things to my idea. Just hear me out. I say that we turn Amanda and Jess into DHI's," Finn stated. Maybeck quickly retorted something, Philby adding in that it may be hard to do so, but in the end we all agreed that we would find a way to get Amanda and Jess set up as DHI's.

That night, I said good night to my dad and grandmother before climbing into bed, fully clothed. I woke up in the Magic Kingdom ten minutes later. Maybeck and Finn were already here. We waited patiently for the rest to arrive. Philby appeared next mumbling something. "It's a cryptogram!" He shouted, standing up.

"Aren't those almost impossible to crack?" I asked.

"Pretty much, but it could be the key to finding Wayne."

The others arrived shortly afterwards. "How are we getting to Hollywood Studios, exactly?" Charlene asked.

"The transportation center closes at 10. We have until then to get in and get out of Epcot." Together as a group we walked out of Magic Kingdom, entering a shadow. We became impossible to see but not impossible to feel or hear. Finn, Maybeck, and I hopped on the first bus to Hollywood Studios, but the driver, thinking that no one was waiting for the bus just left. Willa, Philby, and Charlene met us there.

Hollywood Studios, being the only other park besides Magic Kingdom where our DHI's were projected, was where we focused our efforts. I walked through the turnstiles and my body suddenly appeared. Finn and Maybeck appeared next to me while we waited for Willa, Philby, and Charlene to catch up.

While we were waiting for the others, a night watchman saw Finn and me while Maybeck insisted on waiting for the next bus to pull up. "Hey, you!"

"Follow my lead," Finn whispered. "Hello, park visitor, I'm Finn! Can I help show you around Disney's Hollywood Studios?" he said in an over exaggerated happy voice.

I quickly followed his lead. "Welcome to Disney's Hollywood Studios. My name is Azalea, if you would just recite your pin number I would be happy to show you around."

The man ran his hand through Finn and it passed right through him. Thank god it did too. "Hey, Phil, I think the projectors acting up again, you want to check it again?"

"I hope that since you are not joining me today that you have a wonderful day. If you have any questions just locate the nearest Disney Host Interactive or guest services. Enjoy your stay at Disney's Hollywood Studios," I stated from my memory. I started to walk robotically away, Finn following behind me.

We met up outside the Kodak shop agreeing that we should split up into three groups and meet up at Soundstage B. Finn and I mapped out a different way to get there and headed out. "I think that they're still watching us. That was too close of a call."

"Doesn't matter, if they suspect anything, they shut down the program but the server keeps running, so we're safe," Finn reminded.

"If we're safe, why is there someone behind us? By the looks of it, they are catching up to us," I retorted, looking backwards quickly. Finn looked behind us as well.

"Just play the DHI card again," Finn replied.

"You sure, because I'm pretty sure that that's the lady that's been following us around. My grandmother knows who she is but she's not spilling."

"So, she should be a good person, right?"

"Well, considering she stalked us for the past two weeks, I don't really care about how she was fifteen years ago."

"Go around, and warn the others, I'll stall her," Finn whispered.

"And leave you alone? What if she's an OT? Remember, we're a team, which means that we stick together."

"Fine, but if I tell you to bolt, sprint away," Finn sighed. The lady finally caught up to us.

"You're Azalea and Finn, right?"

"What do you want?" Finn interrupted. The lady looked at me and smiled painfully. She got a faraway look in her eye but it vanished once Finn repeated himself.

"My name's Wanda Alcott, I'm Wayne's daughter."

"How do we know you're not an OT?"

"Don't I and my father look alike? Well, it doesn't matter. My father said you two were the smartest and boldest of the group."

"I think you got us confused with someone else," I said, thinking about how Philby was the smartest and Maybeck the boldest of the group.

"You still don't believe me. Trust me, I am not Maleficent," she stated.

"That's not suspicious at all," I joked to Finn.

"Look, whether or not you trust me, take this," Wanda sighed, pulling a white paper box out of her purse. She handed it to me.

I sighed. "I believe her, Finn."

"Alright, you can help us. But, if you take one step out of line . . ."

"Got it," Wanda interrupted. Wanda led us to Soundstage B and unlocked it with a key she produced from her purse. Philby, ever thinking, thought it was a trap. But after a quick look at his watch we threw caution to the wind. "Azalea, just give the box to Philby and my mission will be complete. If you ever need anything, send out a sign and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

I nodded while we entered the soundstage. "This is perfect, all we need to do is get them here, and we'll be all set." We agreed to meet at the costume shop later and quickly made our way back to Magic Kingdom and crossed over.


	4. Chapter 4

DHI

Azalea's P.O.V.

It was Friday and the whole gang, minus Maybeck who was holding up the rest of the girls at Mrs. Nash's so they wouldn't tattle tale on Amanda and Jess. Wanda led us into a costume storage room. "Find something from the High School Musical street show, and put it on, quickly."

"Do we have to?" Finn whined looking at the basketball outfit that he had donned in disgust.

"Yes, and hurry up, we don't have much time." I browsed through the costumes. The only outfit in my size was a cheerleader outfit. I scrunched my nose as I changed and looked in the mirror. I'll just leave the cheerleading to Charlene. Anyways, we split up into two groups: Philby, Jess, and I were one group while Willa, Finn, Charlene, and Amanda formed the other. Wanda went solo to scout out the Soundstage.

We made our way there without incident, unlike Finn who almost had to beat up a kid and almost blew our cover. Philby worked the computer while Finn and I guarded the door. "Red Alert!" came Wanda's warning. We all sprang into action, looking to make it seem like we had never been here. Two security guards appeared.

They searched around. From my vantage point behind some crates, I could see Finn peeking out from behind the plywood. A crash came from my left as one of the guys started to jump around frantically. They decided to just leave the "spooky room" as one guy put it. As soon as the closed the door, I checked the time. We were going to be late.

"We have to go!" I whispered. Willa quickly turned the lights back on.

"We'll be late!" Jess wailed

"Get Maybeck to delay the other girls, so that if they arrive at around the same time," Finn replied.

"But Jeanine will tell on us anyways," Amanda sighed.

"Bride her with anything possible," Finn nodded.

"Anything?" Jess giggled. The rest of us felt left out of the joke until Finn asked why they were laughing. "Because, her most prized possession is a poster of your DHI, Finn."

"You think we could get you to meet her?" Amanda asked.

"That's not a bribe, more of a penalty, really," Philby smirked. Finn rolled his eyes and we ran out of the Soundstage, making sure to text Maybeck to stall the girls first. We returned again on Sunday and Philby completed the creation of their DHI's though, there's wouldn't be as sophisticated as the rest of ours because Philby had scrapped their DHI's together in a total of about four hours.

That night we all crossed over, although the sisters DHI's were still being uploaded to the system and they were therefore not there. We all met at the apartment above the fire station and it was agreed upon that Philby, Finn, and I would update the server by giving us full access to who crossed over and where they crossed over to whenever we fell asleep.

After dodging park security, we made it to the Utilidor, the underground cast members only area that housed the server. We arrived at the door. Philby started to list problems that would arise if there were still people in the room, which I doubted at this hour. "What if they shut down the server, huh? Then the Return button won't work, we will all be stuck in SBS for eternity!" Philby whispered.

"Forget about the risks, what about getting Wayne back? What about saving the parks, huh?" Finn replied.

"You're right," Philby sighed.

"I know I'm right."

"Then why aren't you going through the door?" I pointed out.

"Cause Professor over here just freaked me out with the whole doom and gloom pep talk of the century," Finn retorted.

"Just do it, before someone comes by!" I ordered. Finn sighed and after a few moments, passed through the door. After about a minute, Finn finally opened the door.

"Jeez, what took you so long, grandma?" Philby replied, quickly entering the room. Philby started to do his geek thing while Finn went on VMN (virtual maintenance network) to check the records which might lead to finding Wayne. I stood guard at the door, if anyone walked in, I would knock them out with a chair.

Everything was going smoothly until someone found Finn on VMN. Philby started freaking me out by saying that they could track our location, if Finn didn't get out quickly enough. Which with our luck, became reality. "Go without me, I got to finish covering our tracks," Finn shouted.

"We're not leaving without you, what if an OT comes-"I started.

"Go! I'll catch up." Before I could retort farther, Philby dragged me out the door and out the Utilidor and back to the apartment.

"Where's Whitman?" Maybeck asked when we arrived.

"Right behind them," Finn replied, standing right behind me. We all held hands and Maybeck hit the button. I woke up in my bed, out of breath and all sweaty. The next day at school, at lunch Finn, Amanda, and I all met up.

"Jess crossed over last night into Epcot," Amanda stated, biting into her cheese and ham sandwich.

"Did you?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so," Amanda replied. The bell rang which signaled the end of lunch. I threw out my trash, bid Finn and Amanda goodbye, and headed for my locker. I rode my bike to the Frozen Marble, Philby already sitting at a table in the corner. I grabbed a vanilla small with gummy bears, Oreo crumble, and other assorted toppings. I sat next to Philby as Finn and Amanda filed in. Philby then presented us with the cryptogram found in Jess' drawing (MKPFP IFP TDIEPR VKPFP CQW'M JFQV HT 2736/2730) Philby started speaking gibberish in which only his fellow geeks could speak as well.

However, he got a date out of it: October 14th, two days from today. After that we attempted to decode the rest of the cryptogram. "The M has to stand for either t or s," I stated. Philby then pointed out possible vowels when Finn complained about how we had to find Wayne now.

"Why are we wasting time decoding this, when we could be out looking for him? I thought the reason we even went to the server was to find temperature drops." Finn whispered.

"Then you should look in the Engineer Base," Wanda stated. Finn whipped around, it was obvious that he still didn't fully trust her. Wanda explained about how we should be looking in the Engineer Base, since it had feed from the other three parks and about how we should focus our efforts in Epcot, where Wayne was most likely located.


	5. Chapter 5

Decoding

Azalea's P.O.V.

That night I woke up in Hollywood Studios, right next to Philby. After waiting another ten minutes, Finn appeared. "We have to get out of sight before someone sees us, there's bound to be Overtakers lurking around here," Philby pressed. The sound of fireworks in the distance startled me.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Almost ten o'clock, why?" Finn replied, standing up.

"You mean to tell me you crossed us over no less than a mile from where just about every OT there ever was, is lurking? Geniuses, Fantasmic doesn't start until it gets dark! Chernabog and Maleficent are over there!" I growled, remembering how I almost died at the hands of Maleficent and Chernabog.

"Let's get out of here, the Engineer Base is this way," Philby interrupted. We ran through the mostly deserted areas of the Hollywood Studios until we got to the Engineer Base. Finn went all clear and opened the door for us.

"We have exactly five minutes until security comes down here if an alarm was tripped," Finn sighed. We ran to the computer room and Philby quickly uploaded the heating and cooling levels in Epcot. Finn quickly started jotting down locations and times of significant temperature drops. I looked at the clock on the wall and gasped, we had gone a whole two minutes over what was possible.

"We have to get out of here! Security is coming!" I whispered, hearing voices and footsteps.

"Follow my lead," Finn stated, dragging Philby and I behind a cubicle and dropping his head and arms. I followed suit just as security walked in.

"Just the holograms, it couldn't have been them that tripped the alarm. It was probably Tigger, he was following Ursula earlier."

"Yeah, remember to not tell the boss about that incident, will you. Activate the motion sensors on the way out." After they closed the door, I stood still, eying the motion sensors in the room.

"How are we going to get out?" I asked.

"We're going to have to go all clear," Finn replied.

"Are you crazy, I've never been successful at that?" Philby retorted. Finn walked him through it before standing up, all clear. I followed suit, imagining the light of the tunnel. Philby fell through his chair that he was sitting on, but we all made it out without tripping the motion sensors.

Two days later, Philby, Willa, Finn, and I agreed to meet at Finn's house to decode the code we got from Jess' dream passing it off as an interschool competition. "Mrs. Whitman would you like to help, I'm sure other kids are getting help from their parents?" Philby asked. As Finn's mom walked over Finn started making weird motions with his hands. I raised an eyebrow at him. His mother took notice and turned around.

Finn stopped making hand motions and sat next to Philby, across from me. Within five minutes, Mrs. Whitman had already figured out most of the code before she left to get cookies for us. "Is your mom like a super genius or something?" I whispered.

"She's a rocket scientist, which is why I enlisted her help," Philby replied. Mrs. Whitman returned and finished solving the puzzle. "There are places where stars don't grow up . . ." While Finn started googling the Disney calendar, Willa and I took our leave seeing as Finn's mom was getting severely suspicious.

"Well got to go. Thanks for the cookies and help Mrs. Whitman. Bye Finn, by Philby," I replied dragging Willa out the door behind me. The next day, we met in Finn's basement discussing what the riddle pointed to.

"It has to be talking about the cartoons," I stated.

"So what cartoons are on tonight?"

"Just Dumbo," Willa reported. We watched the movie, none of us closer to solving the riddle until Jess spoke.

"The whole thing is revolved around the circus, circus equals carousels: Cinderella's Golden Carousel in Magic Kingdom."

"Except those horses have bent legs, the ones in the picture have straight legs," I replied.

"So?" Maybeck retorted.

"So, it's not a match," Charlene spoke. Finn googled carousels and Wonders of Life came up. Apparently it was closed but had a picture of Mary Poppins' carousel on the wall.

"That's it! Mary Poppins horses had straight legs, it's a match!"

"When are we going in?" Finn asked.

"Tonight," Maybeck stated.

"Tonight," we all agreed. We all returned home and crossed over. I awoke in my black sweater and black track pants with my sneakers. I quickly ran to the rendezvous point, Charlene already there. When Philby showed up, he was only in his underwear. I cracked up, Charlene along with me. Philby just grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. After clothing Philby, we went to Wonders.

Charlene climbed to the sunroom terrace, the rest of us staying in the undergrowth. Maybeck went ahead to check if it was clear when Jess spotted Gigabyte, the large python from Honey I shrunk the Kids. Finn signaled to Maybeck who signaled back to give us time to get inside Wonders. We sprinted to the front door that Finn opened after passing through it.

After Philby closed the door and Gigabyte started heading away from the pavilion, Jess gasped. I looked over to see that she had had another dream. It was a picture of her. "They are coming for me," she gasped.

"We have to cross her back over," I replied urgently.

"There were two of them, they looked like each other though one was younger."

"Father and son," Willa interjected. Maybeck soon appeared, motioning for us to come upstairs.

"We have to split up, we're safer that way," Finn interjected. We broke into pairs: Charlene and Jess, Philby and Willa, Finn and Amanda, and Maybeck and I. Maybeck and I walked along the wall when he suddenly pulled my behind a pillar and motioned to be quiet. I looked out behind the pillar and saw the snake with two sets of fathers and sons following it.

"We've got company," I whispered. Maybeck nodded and dragged me to follow Philby and Willa to where Wayne was supposed to be held. "He's not here and we have to go!" I whispered. Charlene led us to the rope as Gigabyte got closer.

"GO!" I heard Finn yell as I followed Willa out of Wonders.

As we ran, I noticed Finn wasn't with us. I looked around frantic until I located him, with Gigabyte's attention straight on him. "FINN!" I shouted, about to run after him but Maybeck grabbed my arm and pulled me along. "Maybeck, let go, I have to help him!"

"He knows what he's doing, c'mon!" Maybeck yelled. I let Maybeck drag me into the brush when I noticed the snake coming straight for us, Finn riding piggy back on it.

"Run!" I screamed, pushing Jess to run faster. We ran to the rendezvous point, Philby returned the clothes much to my amusement, and Finn showed up with just bumps. I pushed the button and we crossed back over.


	6. Chapter 6

Stuck

Azalea's P.O.V.

The next two days passed without incident except for when I tripped Greg down the stairs for trying to kiss me. After school, we met in the back of Maybeck's aunt's store, Crazy Glaze. We met in the back room where Jelly treated us to cookies and milk. After we finished our snack, we got down to business.

"So why did you call us here, Maybeck?" Charlene asked.

"Well, I was doing an art project for school when it hit me: layers."

"Layers?" Amanda wondered.

"Yeah, in painting you have to layer paint to get new colors like when you layer red on top of yellow to get orange. Our special friend never makes things easy for us. He puts things in layers. So I was thinking the shapes the curves and lines of them at least are symbols." Maybeck produced the paper box and placed it in front of everyone.

Then we started to figure out the symbols. "If you put those parenthesizes together, you get an O," I pointed out.

"So now we have an O, P, and N. It has to stand for open," Philby said, examining the box closely. Maybeck ran to grab a razor blade and when he returned cut the tape off of the cube. He then rolled out the cube so that it formed a cross shape with a V on the last cube of the longer strip.

"It's a cross," Willa decided.

"No, it's a sword, that's what the points for," Maybeck argued.

"A cross would mean France in Epcot; the Hunchback of Notre Dame is a Disney movie," Jess stated.

"It's obviously a sword which would mean Maelstrom in Norway," Philby retorted.

"Let's split up into two groups: girls to France, boys to Norway," I settled the argument.

"Tonight, cross over at 9," Maybeck responded. We all nodded and filed out.

I woke up in Epcot that night, next to test track. I jogged over to where Philby (clothed this time) and Willa were already waiting. Everyone arrived within the next ten minutes. When Finn arrived, he didn't have the fob. "Where's the Return?" I asked.

"You guys don't have it?" Finn replied, panic arising on his face.

"Let's not freak out, it's probably in the lost and found when a gardener found it or something," Philby stated trying to calm the situation.

"Finn and I will go get the fob. He can walk through walls and I have my powers. We'll catch up with you guys later," Amanda nodded.

"Then I'll go with the guys so that we have even groups," I stepped forward, not liking the bad feeling in my stomach as I watched Finn and Amanda run away. Was I jealous? No, that's absolutely crazy. I shook my head as I followed Philby and Maybeck into the night. We stopped in Mexico, monitoring the Norway pavilion.

"What are we waiting for?" Maybeck whispered.

"The Segways," Philby reported. The test track dummies rode Segways to monitor the plaza. They were obvious OT's. The boys behind me started to bicker. I rolled my eyes until I say the Segways come into view. I pulled the boys out of sight and clamped a hand over their mouths to stop them from talking.

When the Segways passed I removed my hands. "I think Maleficent is building an army," I gulped, watching the dummies ride into the distance.

"They wouldn't be patrolling if there wasn't something to protect," Philby retorted.

"The sword," I gasped.

"Let's go," Maybeck stated, helping me out of the brush before running to the Norway pavilion. Creepy was an understatement. I had the whole heebie geebie shiver and everything. "This reminds me of a Small World."

"Don't remind me," I spoke, remembering the bite marks on my legs and arms after that incident. We walked into Maelstrom. A boat pulled up. "Why don't I want to get in that boat?"

"Maybe because of the ax-wielding Norwegian we saw before."

"He had an ax?" Maybeck sighed.

"I didn't want to tell anyone else," Philby shrugged.

"You're so comforting," I replied sarcastically.

"I try. Just hop in the boat while I restart the ride," he responded. I muttered a few choice words under my breath before hopping in next to Maybeck. Philby joined us quickly, sitting on the other side of me. "This is where the ax man is supposed to be," Philby reported.

"Well, I lived a nice life I guess," I sighed, preparing myself for what was to come next. The ride continued and we saw the sword. "There it is," I pointed. Maybeck stood up and jumped out of the boat.

"No, he'll trip the alarms," Philby panicked. Except Maybeck jumped high enough that he didn't trip the alarms. He ran to the sword but it was latched to the log.

"Hurry up Maybeck!" I reminded as Philby and I continued with the ride. He pulled it free and vaulted over logs before landing back in his seat.

"Ta da!" he mocked. I rolled my eyes at him as the ride continued.

"That was too easy," I shuddered as a horn blew. "And this isn't a part of the ride." As we continued, a man that looked REAL stood up and walked over to us.

"Be gone, or else I cast a spell on ye!" Then the boat flipped around so that we were going backwards. I screamed as a polar bear came into view. I ducked as it took a swing at us. It missed me but hit Maybeck. I screamed and pulled him away from the bear. Philby, although I have no idea why, stood up and stabbed at the beast, who in turn threw him off the boat.

"Philby, get away from there!" I shouted as I saw a bunch of gnomes surround him. I grabbed him feet and tried to drag him away from the gnomes. I was finally able to drag him into the boat as the boat entered another scene. The temperature dropped as I feared the green witch would be around the corner. Luckily she wasn't, and the rest of the group was waiting for us.

"You guys get all the fun," Willa joked.

"Please, next time you take my place on the ride of death," I retorted, helping Maybeck out of the boat.


	7. Chapter 7

Irish Fly and Betrayal

Azalea's P.O.V.

We hid behind the Mayan temple while Willa cleaned and patch up Maybeck's wound which was not as bad as we feared it was. "I have some bad news," Finn replied, "we couldn't get the fob, we'll have to try again in the morning."

"So we're trapped," I sighed, thinking of how my dad and grandmother would react to me not waking up in the morning. My grandmother would probably have a heart attack while my dad would call the whole army, navy, coast guard, air force, etc. until I woke up.

"Well if we're going to be trapped, might as well make the most of it. Our guardians won't let us out of there sight when we don't wake up tomorrow morning. So, let's make the most of it while we still can," Charlene stated.

"Did she hit her head while you guys were in France?" I asked Jess. Charlene rolled her eyes at us.

"This is all wrong," Philby said.

"Well excuse me for trying to make the best out of a bad situation," Charlene retorted.

"No not you Charlie, it's the sword. It should be Norwegian but it's Irish. It has a fly and a shamrock on it, not the coin design of Norwegian swords."

"So, Irish fly?" I asked.

"How about just fly like the Fly?" Willa stated.

"Well then there's movies, magazines, a U2 song . . ."

"Hold up, there's no way Wayne would have any idea of who U2 are or about the movies or poems or whatever," Maybeck interrupted.

"Maybeck's right, let's just focus on the fly portion. In Epcot you fly in Soarin' we should check it out. And there's also Test Track and Mission Space," I said.

"All three locations have significant temperature drops," Philby reported.

"All right, here's the plan: there's eight of us. Jess will stay on the top of the Mayan temple so that she's not kidnapped and someone will stay with her to help as lookout. The rest of us split into three groups of two," Finn stated.

"I'll stay with Jess," Amanda stepped forward. We all nodded and split up. I was with Willa and we headed towards Soarin'.

"I wish they would have put it boy-girl so that each girl had a boy to protect the girl," Willa whispered as we walked to Soarin'.

"Personally, I feel like those boys are danger prone, either them or I get hurt whenever we are together on these things." We walked into the Soarin' pavilion and I couldn't help but feel that I was being watched. We hurried onto the ride just in time. I tucked my legs in so that the workers would not be able to see me.

The ride started up seeing as they were doing maintenance on the ride. The screen came to life except instead of the California landscape I was expecting, I found myself flying through New York City. The ride started to dive when suddenly the man shut it down. The sudden stop caused me to fall forward. I quickly grabbed the seat belt, holding back a scream.

Willa tried to help me up, afraid that they would see a teenage girl hanging from the ride. I gulped as the ride restarted. Willa was able to pull me back up into the seat when they shut down the ride completely. We descended to the ground, quickly exiting the ride before the workers saw us. "Well, there was nothing there," I sighed.

We quickly ran up maintenance stairs, passing the projection room on the way out. "Hold up, we should check this out," Willa said.

"Why?" I asked, pulling her into the shadows.

"That's an IMAX projector, those are always put in cool rooms and are highly temperature monitored." I nodded and carefully opened the door. I pulled Willa inside once I was sure it was clear. The room was very organized and clean. "He's not here."

"But she once was, and we have to find out why," I stated looking around the room.

"Maybe it has to do with the New York movie, or maybe Wayne knew what they were up to and they captured him so that he couldn't let us know what was going on?" Willa wondered.

"Yeah but they got Wayne when we were in Animal Kingdom. Those logs are recent. They must be looking for something, and Wayne is the key to finding it," I deduced.

"Which means that they're still looking for it!" Willa exclaimed.

"Where would Wayne hide something?"

"In the film, if I'm right, one added strip would be just a flicker, nothing major that someone would notice." After grabbing the gloves on the wall, we unwound the film, inspecting each slide. I grabbed one slide that was dark, contrary to the clearness of the slides in front of it and behind it.

"I think I found something," I whispered. "Quick, rewound the film." The film flickered. I quickly looked down at the maintenance crew and saw them pointing to the booth. "We've been seen!"

"What's on the slide?" Willa said quickly, putting the film back into its canister.

"A seat belt sign," I stated.

"I got it! In the maintenance log, there was something about seat belts."

I quickly ran to the log and opened it to the last entry. "The last entry was three weeks ago, when Wayne went missing. It says that the seat belts weren't opening."

"He's coming, we got to go," Willa replied, opening the back door before running out it, me right on her tail. The catwalk led to a dead end.

"There's a ladder," I whispered, climbing quickly down to the other catwalk, Willa right behind me. The man came out of the booth. As we ran along, I noticed that my arm disappeared beneath a pipe. "A shadow," I said motioning towards the pipe. Willa and I huddled under the pipe as the man walked onto the catwalk.

The pipe in which we were beneath and forced to cling to, started to descend, pulling Willa and I with it. We were almost to the ground level when we suddenly reappeared. The man saw us. I quickly let go of the pipe and sprinted to the fire exit, causing the fire alarm to go off. Willa was right behind me as we sprinted out into the night air.

Meeting at the rendezvous point, I noticed that Finn, Philby, and Charlene were missing shoes. I shrugged it off as we talked quietly in the deserted lounge. Amanda and Jess updated us first. "We saw the drawbridge raise and lower twice. The globe left the lake twice as well. The dummies were constantly patrolling."

I filled them in on the seat belt problems and new film at Soarin'. Finn and Philby had had a run in with Maleficent, managed to crash a car, and both got bad sunburn which was apparent. Maybeck and Charlene's experience however stole the show.

"Wayne had a message for us. He said that there will be a deception of the worst kind . . . beware our friends and know our enemies . . . Norway holds the answer . . . we stand under it to get out of the rain but it's still in our brains."

"Deception of the worst kind is betrayal," Philby stated.

"You mean to tell me after all we've been through together . . ." Maybeck sighed somberly.

"I for one do not believe that. If someone was going to betray the group, they would have done it a long time ago. I trust all of you guys, you've all saved my butt and I've saved yours too," I stated.

"It doesn't matter, there will be a betrayal," Finn sighed.

"Let's just move on," Charlene stated. "A hat will keep you out of the rain. They sell all sorts of hats."

"Well we've got to look in the stores for them," Philby said.

"You mean to tell me you want to leave," Willa exclaimed. "Now hold up, just because I disagree doesn't mean I'm the traitor. Who knows, maybe Philby is the traitor waiting to lead us into a trap."

"Nice try," Philby responded dryly. "Trying to make me look like the bad guy, huh?"

"Hey, Willa does have a point. We shouldn't all go look for hats together, there's too many of us. We have to stay in pairs so that the traitor can't contact anyone. I say we send out a search party for the hats and nominate Finn, Philby, and Charlene," Maybeck stated, trying to calm the situation.

"The traitor would like nothing more than to get rid of Finn the leader, Philby the brains, and Charlene the jock," Charlene pointed out. Everyone turned to look at Maybeck suspiciously.

"Hey! What's wrong with you guys? Don't you see what's happening? We're falling apart! No one can do this alone, that's why Wayne put together this team! When we work together, we can do anything but you guys are throwing away that loyalty and friendship by playing the blame game. Wayne wrecked it," I stated, breaking up the fight that was brewing.

"Azalea's right, Wayne wrecked it but he did it for a reason. He operates like that. Let's just pull three names out of a hat for the search party," Finn said, calming the situation further. Amanda wrote all of our names on slips and Jess picked three.

"Finn, Philby, and Charlene," Jess called.

"Fate," Philby retorted.

"I am the man," Maybeck smirked, which made me push him out of his chair.


	8. Chapter 8

The Kingdom Keepers

Azalea's P.O.V.

We hid in the shadows of Wonders of Life. The snake Gigabyte made his way to Wonders, slithering out front. "We have twelve minutes to get in get Wayne and get out," Philby stated, looking at his watch.

"Let's go," Maybeck whispered, motioning for Finn and me to follow him. We ran to the wall where we would have to go all clear to get through. I went through first. I heard a few bumps from outside before Finn and Maybeck walked through the wall. We slid down the ladder and headed for the board room. Maybeck's phone rang but he chose to ignore it.

We entered the boardroom silently, but no one was there. Wayne was gone. Finn angrily kicked the chair. "He's not here, we have to leave. This has to be a trap," I told Finn, placing a hand on Finn's shoulder.

"No it is not, stop thinking that way!" Finn cursed.

"Listen, there's lions at the front and Gigabyte at the back. This was a trap, and they used Wayne as bait!" Maybeck stated, putting his cell phone down.

"Tell the girls to head to Nemo, no sense in all of us getting capture," Finn sighed.

"Charlene's tied up with the lions out front, and Philby's still in the booth," Maybeck reported. I looked out the boardroom windows, seeing two jesters and a crash test dummy making their way up to us.

"Guys, we got to go, there's some OT's heading up here," I warned. Maybeck called Philby.

"I have a plan of exit for you guys," Philby said into the phone," but you're not going to like it."

"Why?" Maybeck asked.

"It involves small spaces and heights," Philby responded. I saw the boys shoulders sag.

"We have to go, c'mon," I interrupted their mopping session. As Philby told us his plan, I open the air conditioning duct. Maybeck and Finn hesitated to follow me in. "Look, I don't want to be around here when the OT's show up so you guys can follow me or get captured," I retorted, crawling down the duct. I heard scratching as the boys filed in behind me. Rolling my eyes, I continued on. Getting to the grate Philby had specified, I pushed it.

The boys behind me were arguing as I carefully grabbed the grate and placed it on the other side of the vent. I slid out onto the ladder and climbed down silently. The boys tumbled out behind me. "Alright, we've got a bit of a dilemma now," I stated.

"That being," Finn asked.

"We need to get to that carousel, and there's not a clear path to said carousel." Maybeck grabbed a plank and placed it on the stepladder resting next to the railing. Finn and I held it steady as he walked over until he was forced to jump to the carousel. Another plank was placed down, and Finn went next. I gasped as the jesters made their way up the stairs, heading straight for me.

"C'mon Azalea!" Maybeck shouted frantically. I stood on the plank and started to walk over. As I hit the half-way point, the make-shift bridge started to wobble. I walked faster, trying not to fall when the plank fell out from beneath me. I screamed, latching onto the plank, and missing a plummet that would have possibly ended me.

"Azalea!" Finn shouted, looking over the edge.

"A little help," I called, losing my grip on the plank due to the sweat that was percolating on my palms. Maybeck and Finn heaved the plank up. I hooked my knee on the railing and climbed over, falling onto the floor at Finn and Maybeck's feet.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked.

"Why am I the one who always almost falls to her death?" I panted. Maybeck helped me up, before turning our attention to Philby at the other side of the once bridge, the jokers trying to climb for us on this side. "There's no bridge but there's a wire," I said pointing to the steel wire that travelled the same distance as the bridge had.

"You'll have to tightrope!" Finn hollered.

"Are you crazy?" Philby shouted back.

"It's either that or we leave you!" Maybeck retorted. Muttering, Philby stepped onto the wire, somehow grabbing a pole he used for balance. After he made it across, we climbed to the roof. There was no sign of Gigabyte or the lions.

"While I was tightrope walking I think I figured out what the OT's are up to. Seat belts aren't coming undone. They're trying to trap visitors on rides. We'll have to listen to their demands otherwise the rides will end up like those in the past. Test track, it's a small world, etc. Except I have a feeling there won't be a good chance at escaping."

"You figured all of that out while tight roping?" Maybeck said, incredulously. We ran to Nemo, the rendezvous point, glad to see that Charlene had made it as well. "Well now, what do we do?" Maybeck asked.

"Five am," Finn started, standing up," when I hitched a ride from some Imagineers one of the guys was saying something about how they were doing runs of Fantansmic at five am." It was decided that we would locate the truck but in doing so we would have to split up with such little time. Finn and I were searching behind America when Willa called saying that she had found the truck behind China. We quickly made our way there.

Everyone but Maybeck and Jess, a partnered group, had not shown up. "We have to leave without them," Philby said quietly. We jumped into the back of the pickup, pulling a tarp over us. I considered calling Wanda to have her get Maybeck and Jess over to the Studios. Suddenly, Finn motioned for us to get out.

"Are you crazy?" Philby responded. Finn ignored him and jumped out of the truck. I sighed and followed suit, with the others hopping out after me. We hid in a ditch until the truck passed. When the truck had passed, I called Wanda who agreed to bring Maybeck and Jess over to the Studios. We wandered over to Fantasmic, Finn clutching the sword tightly. I placed a comforting had over his trembling one and he seemed to calm down.

"Alright, planning time. What have you got, Philby?" Finn said, stopping just outside of Fantasmic. Philby listed off basically the whole lay out of it.

"So it's basically the large scale base of the OT's, where they wouldn't be questioned for hanging around," Willa summed up. The sound of the show starting was in the distance. Charlene, Amanda, Finn, and I hid in the brush while Philby went up to the control center.

"I think I can get you guys in," Charlene stated. We all nodded as she ran off to open the door for us. Finn started to flicker and I grabbed his hand to settle him again. He kept his gaze pointed forward. Charlene reappeared behind us. "There's a deep shadow behind the stage, if we stay in it, we should be able to get in undetected."

The plan was to get Finn in position to defeat the beast while Charlene was to find a way to subdue the dragon. I was to stay up to of the stage, looking things over ready to spill the fire retardant liquid on Chernabog or Maleficent, whichever required more taming. Charlene climbed before us before letting a rope down for us. Finn went first, the sword after him, and them me. When I got to the top, we signaled for Amanda to come up.

She wasn't there. "Where is she?" I asked, looking over the side.

"You don't think that . . ." Charlene started. I gulped, not needing Charlene to finish the sentence. What if Amanda was the betrayal Wayne warned us about? I sighed.

"We'll have to go one without her, if this is what I think it is, we shouldn't hang around here much longer," I stated. Finn and Charlene looked just as hurt as I felt.

"She wouldn't betray us, right?" Finn replied. I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. He nodded and we went to our positions. It's show time. I watched as Finn taunted Maleficent on stage. I gulped as Finn missed a blast from Maleficent. Chernabog, the dragon, had appeared and Charlene wasn't in her position. Everything was going wrong.

I grabbed a rope and sighed. "Any last words, Azalea? Yeah, I wish I had a better plan!" I told myself before jumping off the catwalk and swinging towards the dragon, to keep it occupied with someone other than Finn who was busy with Maleficent. "HEY! OVER HERE YOU OVERGROWN LIZARD!" I shouted.

The beast turned its attention to me. I growled. I gulped as the dragon roared. It sucked in a breath, and breathed fire. I was able to dodge most of the blast but a part of the flame licked my shoulder. I screamed in pain. I sucked in a breath as the dragon reared back, about to cook me with his fire breath when he suddenly cried out.

It redirected its blast somewhere else. With a last terrifying roar, Chernabog fell, Charlene standing triumphantly holding a spear in one hand. She quickly ran over to me, helping me up before we both ran off the stage towards Soundstage B. We were the last to arrive, my shoulder slowing me down a bit. When we arrived, we met by a pacing Finn, a sobbing Wanda, and a jittery Maybeck.

"There you guys are!" Willa shouted, hugging us tightly. I winced as she accidently hit my burnt shoulder. "You're hurt!" Willa led me over to a chair where she examined the burn. I winced as she rubbed something on it.

"So what's everyone mopping about?" I asked, wincing as Willa applied more of whatever it was on my shoulder. Everyone suddenly turned somber. "What's wrong?"

" . . . Wayne's dead." I felt my heart clench as I looked down in sorrow. "The second blast of fire from the dragon killed him," Finn explained. I felt guilty, seeing as that blast was meant for me. I ignored the throbbing in my shoulder and walked away from the others. I heard someone follow me but I ignored them. After I was a good distance from the group, I let out a silent sob, holding my hand to my mouth to silence my whimpers. "Azalea . . ."

I turned around to see Finn standing there, sorrow littering his features. "It's all my fault," I whispered.

"No, it's not. There was nothing you could have done, Lea," Finn sighed, using my nickname that only people I trust are allowed to use without worry for certain death from me.

"You don't understand Finn that that blast was meant for me. But when he fell over, it got redirected at Wayne. Wayne's dead because of me," I sobbed. Finn grabbed my uninjured shoulder gently but firmly, my chin in the other. He directed my chin so that I was staring into his eyes, which were glittering with unshed tears.

"Listen to me. There was nothing you could have done, nothing. Do you understand?" Finn stated, punctuating every word. I nodded silently, letting a few tears slip. He pulled me into a strong hug, me hugging back quickly. As we hugged, I wet his shirt with my tears and I felt my hair get damp as his tears came out. We stood in silence for a while just letting the sorrow we felt for the loss of our dear mentor sink in. After we had calmed ourselves and dried our tears, we walked back to the group.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Ones We Left Behind

Azalea's P.O.V.

Wanda was sobbing uncontrollably but gave us the keys to the Lost and Found before leaving. But before she left, we all locked in a group hug, each of us letting a few tears fall for the man that was our beloved mentor that was never going to return to give us advice on how to beat the OT's. Wanda left as the rest of us made our way to Epcot. Finn went to get the fob as the rest of us lounged in self-pity.

When he returned with the fob and Wayne's sweatshirt, Philby spoke," When Wayne warned us of betrayal, he wasn't talking about one of us betraying everyone else. He was warning us about himself. Wayne was the traitor." I wanted to scream that Wayne wasn't a traitor to us but I couldn't. I didn't feel like talking and besides, Finn had filled us all in on how Wayne told us to surrender.

"But when would Wayne ever tell us to quit, to surrender. He wouldn't!" Philby stated.

"Maybe you should calm down Philby. It's been a long day and we're all in need of sleep," Maybeck reasoned. Philby ignored him.

"We're DHI's, we can't always trust what we see because it's not real. Philby pulled up surveillance of Fantasmic on a computer. "Look at Maleficent, the dragon, and Finn. What do they all have in common?" Philby asked.

"They create shadows but what does that have to do with-"Charlene started. Philby started the clip. I saw the dragon fall and shoot a blast of fire. I hid my face in Finn's shoulder before I could see Wane be incinerated. Finn buried his own head in my hair before he could witness Wayne's death, again.

"Don't ask me to look at that again!" Finn replied, drained of all energy.

"Which is exactly why we should. There's something here that the OT's knew that we wouldn't be able to watch and therefore not notice what was going on. Philby ran the click again and I forced myself to look at the screen. I was surprised at what I saw. Wayne cast no shadow. Philby asked Finn to go all clear. He cast no shadow.

"Don't you guys see it, it was a DHI of Wayne," Philby smiled.

"He's alive!" Finn shouted. A cheer went up among all of us. Willa examined his sweater.

"This thing smells funny, don't you think?" Willa exclaimed. Philby, after getting in a good snort of the stuff, deduced it was black powder, the powder found in fireworks.

"Illuminations," I gasped.

"When I was at the drawbridge, the place where they store the barges was a hub. And there was this flashing from within it," Willa stated.

"How are we getting over there?" I asked.

"I swam."

"Then we swim," Finn nodded, heading for the bridge. Finn, Amanda, and Charlene were going to swim over there while the rest of us were going to make distractions so that they could sneak in. Some people were lurking around. I threw rocks at them from the top of the building, allowing for Finn, Amanda, and Charlene to sneak in.

I was going to return to the walkway when I spotted Finn and Philby's parents talking to an Imagineer. I quickly climbed down to ground level when the rung on the ladder broke. I slipped and winced at the pulling in my shoulder. Man that hurt! I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist as Maybeck quietly lowered me to the ground. I nodded in thanks as we ran off into the night, making sure to keep the barge that held Wayne, the real Wayne, the alive Wayne and the rest of our friends.

Days turned into weeks after the day of Wayne's rescue. He told us to report our findings to the Imagineers and take advantage of the time we had while Maleficent and Chernabog were locked up in Animal Kingdom. He didn't say anymore, fearing that if some OT heard him that it wouldn't be good for us. After our brief talk we had with Wayne, they whisked him off to the hospital. Once he was gone, I called Wanda letting her know that her father is indeed alive.

Finn, Amanda, and I would meet up at lunch and would talk Keeper stuff. My dad forbade me from hanging around with the other Keepers and doing anything that had to do with the other Keepers. However, whenever he was away on business I would hang around with the other Keepers whenever we could. My grandmother always looked at me with a knowing stare now but she never questioned were I went, which I was thankful for. I mean, try explaining that you are going to meet up with some other kids to discuss how to save theme parks from imaginary villains.

Anyways, it was lunch time once again. Amanda wasn't at school today, she texted me saying that her powers were acting up and she didn't want to be in any stressful situations. So it was just Finn and me. After the whole hugging incident after we thought that Wayne had died, Finn became a bit more protective of me.

My shoulder had healed considerably, and there was just a faint scar left, though I still didn't want to wear any tank tops anytime soon or else have my dad ask where I got the scar in the first place. Lousy Luowski decided at this peaceful moment to ruin Finn and I's lunch. "I thought I told you, Whitman to stay away from her," he growled, looking intimidating.

I rolled my eyes at him and Finn did the same. "Oh Greg, we wouldn't want a repeat of the stairs incident now would we?" I replied in a sickly sweet voice. Greg remembered alright because he left us alone after that.

"I still can't believe that you out of all the people in this school managed to get the vending machine over there to tip over and roll down the stairs. Straight into the principle as well, which gave you extra points," Finn joked.

"You want to test me Finn? I don't care if you go all clear, I will trip you down the stairs," I joked back. Finn smiled warmingly.

"How's your grandmother?" he asked, turning to a more personal subject. My grandmother had gotten sick recently, though we have no idea about what it is. She's nearly seventy-five and she lived a perfectly healthy life besides running a company completely run by sugary and fatty products.

"She's holding on, but the doctors still don't know what's going on," I sighed. Finn grabbed my hand under the table, and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine," he replied. I smiled in thanks. We ate our lunch after that talking about what to do next, Kingdom Keeper wise, the bell signaling that it was time to go back to our boring lives where there wasn't a high possibility where you would be captured by imaginary creatures and forced into an eternal slumber if your friends couldn't wake you up. Yup, normal life, alright.


End file.
